GAME REPORT

Kosice Clinch Debut F8 Place

Plenette Pierson and Allie Quigley headlined once again for Good Angels Kosice as the Slovakian club reached their first EuroLeague Women Final Eight after a 74-64 victory at Perfumerias Avenida wrapped up the series against the 2011 champions.

Allie Quigley has played a major role in the Good Angels Kosice run of form that brought them to the Final Eight

The pair were again in sparkling form, continuing from where they left off in the first game with Pierson harvesting 17 points,eight boards and four assists, whilst Quigley added a game-high 23 points.

Kosice made a strong start, moving 22-17 ahead and indeed the lead could have been even more substantial had Lucila Pascua not finished the opening quarter with successive scores for Avenida.

It was during the second quarter when the hosts lost their way and as it was soon to prove, also their chances of progressing to the season finale in Ekaterinburg next month.

Their defence was far too generous and gave up 29 points which unsurprisingly, left head coach Victor Lapena with plenty to ponder in the locker rooms at the interval, his team down 51-35.

Avenida did a great job to stem the tide when they returned to the court, holding Kosice to just 12 points in the third period.

But, they couldn't get any kind of offence going themselves and barely broke double-figures with just ten points, their three-point shooting failing to inspire a comeback.

A 10-2 start to the fourth quarter gave the fans inside Wurzburg Arena a brief glimmer of hope as Avenida cut the gap to 65-55, having prevented Kosice from scoring for five minutes.

But, four free-throws in a row from Quigley helped the visitors to get the scoreboard ticking over and avoid any late drama.

Marta Fernandez had 19 points for Avenida.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes Perfumerias Avenida vs Good Angels Kosice

Maros Kovacik, Good Angels Kosice coach:

"First of all, I want to congratulate Avenida and their fans for the great atmosphere. I am very proud of my players and all the club; being at the Final Eight is fantastic. Tonight we had a very good first half, with our stars at a great level, and in the second half, we stopped them in defence, controlling the rebounds and that was the key."

Miljana Bojovic, Good Angels Kosice:

"I am very happy right now, I dont know how to say it, but it was the goal of this club and we did it, we are in the Final Eight. Both games were very hard, although we won the first by 18 and this second by 10; we did a great job and I have to congratulate my team-mates."

Víctor Lapeña, Avenida coach:

"This is a fair result, they were better than us in both games and they showed that Kosice is a team built to be in the Final Eight. Today I´m proud of my players, they fought until the end, and we worked better in defence than in the game before. Now we have to focus on our domestic competitions."

Monique Currie, Avenida:

"It´s hard, but we have to learn from this game for the future, as our coach said. We have in front of us big challenges in Spain and we will fight for them, as we did tonight."